Excessive Consumption – Day 3

Yesterday we finally got a day to stay home but that didn’t mean the partying stopped.   It was a fairly scraggly group that assembled for breakfast but they lost one of their vigor for continuing our role of Thanksgiving weekend good times.  My son and ABFA had to take their road show north to New Hampshire to help celebrate the 30^th birthday of one of the ABFA’s closest friends.  Those left behind had the bittersweet task of a bon voyage party for my daughter and Wing Man who’s California adventure commences later this week.

The Scraggly Breakfast Scene

I found myself looking at both of them all day and savoring the time we have now, understanding that California residence will have a severe impact on our ability to spend time together.  My wife went completely nuts preparing a meal for the ages that included prime rib, spaghetti squash and various and other sundry delicacies.

The Party Kicks off With Return of Keene Friend and the Rhode Islanders

The Keene Friend departed early in the morning but returned all the way from Keene for the party and the ABFA’s parents traveled down as well to help us send the soon to be Californians out in style.  The entire Rhode Island contingent from Day 2 celebrations pulled up stakes and showed up at our door as the sun was setting.  It was a great group and testimony to how well thought of the departing pair is.  Buddy was in seventh heaven with my sister and Keene Friend in residence – begging targets 1 and 1A. 

The Future Californians

An immense amount of adult beverage was sacrificed along with the meal as important college football games invariably led some of us astray to the family room.  It was an evening of fun and reminiscing but every time I looked at my daughter and Wing Man I knew our lives were changing and while I’m very happy for them I couldn’t help feeling a sense of loss. I’m going to miss them something crazy.

Seated Next to Sister and Brother In Law

The late arrival of Keene Friend 2 cemented the group as we dove into a homemade ice cream cake and possibly the tastiest chocolate pie the world has ever seen.  The end of the night came entirely too early as everybody had a goodly distance to drive home.  I ended the night on the couch with my soon to be distant “kids” and tried unsuccessfully to watch the end of a college football game with them.  I’m glad they leave for the left coast knowing just how well loved they are in the east.

This Type Photo Will Not Be as Easy in Future - Really Going to Miss Them

Some Other Great Friends from Rhode Island Showed Up With Their Ice Cream Cake!

In some of the quiet time before the party kicked off I finished off the next in my Travis McGee revisit with A Tan and Sandy Silence.  This marks 2/3 of the way through the seminal John D. MacDonald series.   This book finds Trav trying to reconcile whether he should take up an offer to become a live in boyfriend to well off lady friend when the husband of another former “friend” tries to shoot him.  This leads him into a search for that former friend.  He ends up down in the Caribbean Islands where he encounters a truly evil sociopath as well as a yacht crewed by beautiful naked women (this is McGee we’re talking about).  The bad guys are developers (again) and both McGee and Meyers are truly tested in a harrowing finale.

Some words from A Tan and Sandy Silence as McGee contemplates the issue of taking up the position of a kept man for his rich girlfriend:  “A lot of the good ones get away.  They want to impose structure upon my unstructured habits.  It doesn’t work.  If I wanted structure, I’d live in a house with a Florida room, two cars, have 2.7 kids, a dog, a cat, a smiling wife, a viable retirement and profit sharing plan, a seven handicap, and shortness of breath.”